Rebecca Jane Spratley was born on January 15, 1836, in Surry County, Virginia, to John and Sarah Spratley. Her parents probably died when she was a child, and by 1850, she was living in the household of William and Rebecca Dillard in Southwark, Virginia. She married Robert L. Judkins on March 21, 1867, and they had at least two children: Viola, born around 1868; and Rebecca, born around 1870. They lived in Petersburg, Virginia, and her husband worked as a merchant and manufacturer. By 1870, they owned $6,000 of personal property, and they employed a Black nurse. She died on April 26, 1910.